When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them." (Nikki)

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language." (Paul Gauguin)

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Using masking medium

March 27, 2009


 48 x 24 x 2 inches, central detail


Grand Fir in front of a giant Sequoia, 48H x 24W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, using masking medium to outline the mossy dead branches.

 48 x 24 x 2 inches, masking medium on primed canvas, work in progress 48 x 24 x 2 inches, acrylics on canvas, work in progress  48 x 24 x 2 inches, acrylics on canvas, finished, gallery wrap, sides painted

Some work, some don’t, but I haven’t given up on it yet; work still in progress, but since this won’t be in the Raleigh show in 7 weeks I can’t afford to spend more time on it now.  I hoped the flat white would work against a fairly realistic background, but it doesn’t.   This could go a few ways: 1) flatten the whole surface and make the painting an abstract 2) downsize the sequoia, add shadow and color to the fir then create a more realistic forest scene 3) block out more dead firs with more masking fluid, echoing the main one, still as an abstract or realistic or 4) ditch it! Some paintings are worth spending time exploring when they reach a certain stage, and with others chalk it up as experience, re-cover the stretcher frame and move on.

Categories: California, experimental, The Majesty of Trees Collection, trees, work in progress | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Using masking medium”

  1. Jim Says:
    April 2nd, 2009 at 11:06

    The central detail works on it’s own. I like it better than the first 3 images you presented here.

  2. Nikkico Says:
    April 2nd, 2009 at 11:06

    Thanks for the feedback about this Dad. So do you think if the background was changed to all dark dark brown it would work, like flat as more of a design, or still with light on the Sequoia trunk? I’m stumped! …at a fork in the road, not clear about how to proceed with it.

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